Broody Hen Thread!

[chicken farmer]

My mallard hen has been sitting on 12 of her eggs and today 11 out of the 12 hatched,so excited she's my first broody duck!

 

[alibabba]

My mallard hen has been sitting on 12 of her eggs and today 11 out of the 12 hatched,so excited she's my first broody duck!

Adorable!!!!!

 

[katatonic123]

Well, after talking to my cousin, I decided just to move her. There was definite aggravation in the process but everyone is settled down and in bed for the night. Neither the broody in question or my rooster was happy about the move.

 

[Texas4T]

My mallard hen has been sitting on 12 of her eggs and today 11 out of the 12 hatched,so excited she's my first broody duck!

Cuteness extremus! I...love...little baby ducks...(there's a whole song going through my head now.)

 

[svfarm]

I had to move my two broody hens today. I checked under the one hen earlier and one of my other hens had smashed an egg that was about a week and a half along. I hadn't planned on moving them, but about halfway through building a simple hutch for my rabbits, I decided to put the hens in it instead. I almost got full-on attacked by the little one.

 

[Demidog]

I'v also had a broken egg which has made a mess in the next box and gotten the other eggs dirty. Should i remove the broody hen, clean the box and replace the dirty eggs with clean ones? What am i supposed to do?

 

[svfarm]

My other hens insist on laying their eggs in the box that my bigger broody hen is in instead of the empty box. So this is the third time this has happened. I have been cleaning them off gently with a warm wet paper towel, and then drying them and putting them back. So far the eggs seem fine. I actually have two from that box that should hatch within the next day or two. I also removed all the bedding from the box and put fresh stuff in.

 

[Demidog]

My hens do the same, i'v seen 3 hens in the same box together when there is a whole row of empty boxes. They all like to lay in the same one. My broody has only been sitting for 3 or 4 days and the first few days i was still taking the eggs to eat. The last one i cracked open had blood capilaries in it so i decided to leave her and let her hatch some. But now this cracked egg's made a mess. I think because it's still early on i could clean everything and remove the dirty eggs and start again. Maybe i can get her to sit in a different box that the others don't use. But maybe there are still some clean eggs under her though, i'v not moved her to check, i just got rid of the broken egg and some of the really dirty ones around it but there was more under her i couldn't get to.

 

[svfarm]

My one hen(columbian rock) is really good about being moved. If I have to clean the box I just move her to the next box over. My mean little brown hen gets very easily upset. I had to move her and her eggs back to the coop because I found her roosting on the box. As soon as I put her back in her box in the coop though, she settled right onto her eggs. I guess it depends on the hen.

 

[yyz0yyz0]

It's been over a week since I gave my broody a dozen eggs to hatch and all is going well. We plan on candling all the eggs tomorrow as that will be 10 days since she was given the eggs.
She was off the nest the other day to eat and drink so I pulled the cover back and peeked, they were so cute all pushed together in a nice tight clutch of eggs.
Can't wait to candle them and hoping for the best.
Hatching date should be around July 1st, could make for a nice celebration on the 4th!